


An Unexpected Gift

by Jain



Category: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: First Time, Hamiathes' Gift Exchange, M/M, POV Third Person, Past Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 13:12:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11852295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jain/pseuds/Jain
Summary: Some new scrolls arrive in Roa.





	An Unexpected Gift

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kim47](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kim47/gifts).



"Kay the Scribe?" a man asked.

Kamet turned his attention from the scroll before him to the messenger standing in the open doorway. An Attolian, by his accent and cleanshaven face. "Yes, I'm Kay," he said.

"One scroll for you," the messenger said, taking it out of his sack and putting it in Kamet's hands, "and five scrolls for Costis Ormentiedes." That required a little more rummaging, and he placed them on the table.

"Are you sure?" Kamet asked, startled. The messenger gave him a sour look. "My apologies, of course you know your own job. It's just that it's usually the other way around in our house." That was an exaggeration. It was usually Kamet with five scrolls and Costis with none. But perhaps Costis had decided to supplement his cover by ordering some natural histories. Perhaps the _king_ had done so as a joke.

The messenger shifted impatiently, and Kamet stopped woolgathering and dug in the pocket of his tunic for three silver coins which he handed over. "There's bread and goat cheese, too, if you're hungry. And you can fill your waterskin at the well as you leave."

Now it was the messenger's turn to look startled. "Thank you, but I've taken a room at the local inn for the night. I can dine there."

Kamet noticed, however, that he filled his waterskin before going. The messenger had obviously learned that it paid to be careful. "Thank you for the delivery," Kamet called belatedly, and the messenger raised his hand in an acknowledging wave that Kamet could just make out.

Not only because of his poor eyesight, either. Dusk was falling purply on the hillside. Costis would be home soon, and the mystery of the scrolls would be revealed.

But when Costis did return, he was as puzzled by his five new scrolls as Kamet had been. "Are you sure these are for me?" he asked, rolling them open one by one to peer at them. "I can't even read these. Is this Mede?"

Kamet took the proffered scroll and inspected the writing. "No, that's old Ensur," he said, surprised. He unrolled the scroll a little further to read the first several lines, and an unpleasantly cold sensation gripped his stomach. He knew what this scroll was--what all five of these scrolls must be. A gift from the king, yes, and a joke as well, but not one he was playing on Costis.

"Do you recognize the scroll?"

For a breath of time, Kamet considered lying to him. That was pure foolishness, though. There was no doubt but that the king would get the satisfaction of his joke in the end, and it would only make matters worse if Kamet tried to delay that moment.

"It's another tale of Ennikar and Immakuk."

Costis's interest sharpened, though he still looked puzzled. "Is it one you've told me already?"

 _No,_ Kamet thought. "I don't believe so," he said.

Costis laughed a little. "I'd thought that I'd heard them all by now. Though I suppose it's unfair to expect you to have learned _every_ Ennikar and Immakuk story by heart."

"I believe I mentioned once that there were hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of tablets relating their stories," Kamet said.

"So," Costis said, still smiling as though this were all tremendous fun. "Well, I hope I can rely upon you to translate for me."

"Of course," Kamet said, as lightly as possible when he could feel the claws of fate seizing him in their grasp.

* * *

He was spared having to read the scroll to Costis that evening, at least. Ever since he'd told Costis one day about Jeffa's advice, Costis had become more protective of Kamet's eyesight than Kamet was himself. It was Costis who'd insisted that Kamet ask permission to do his translation work at home, where he could sit with his table pulled right up to the window, rather than in the dim, dusty temple library in Roa.

"And where I can keep a better eye out for a fleet of Mede ships?" Kamet had asked.

Costis had shrugged, unembarrassed. "That, too. It'll be good for your eyes to rest them on the horizon every so often."

So the flickering lamplight and firelight that was all they had to see by was insurance for Kamet, of a sorts, though it would only save him until his next rest day, two days hence.

* * *

The morning of his rest day, Kamet rose so early that Costis--long accustomed to waking at dawn--was still asleep, his door closed. Kamet crept softly about the pitch-black main room, his feet having learned their path almost without his willing it, after years in which his most important job was to be silent and unseen at all hours. His stomach was too uncertain for food, much less coffee, but he made himself a cup of chamomile tea and sipped it while staring out at the slowly brightening sky.

When it was almost too late, he realized that Costis would notice if he ate nothing for breakfast. He quickly dusted some breadcrumbs on a plate, added a smear of goat cheese and a drop of honey, and laid the plate and the used knife on their kitchen table.

Then he made himself another cup of tea, his heart still pounding from his recent panicked exertion, and resumed his vigil.

Costis emerged soon after that, yawning luxuriously, and Kamet smiled despite himself.

"You're up early," Costis said.

"Mmm."

"I notice you didn't take the opportunity to make us a hot breakfast, though."

"It's my rest day," Kamet said. "I'm resting." He let himself enjoy Costis's mock-outraged expression briefly, then relented. "Perhaps I'll make poppyseed cakes later today."

Assuming Costis was still there later that day, he amended mentally. He wished he could believe that Costis wouldn't take things that badly, yet he couldn't quite do so. Lack of trust was the injury that had almost destroyed their friendship before, and he couldn't be certain that Costis wouldn't view this newest instance of it in the same light.

Preferable even to Costis's forgiveness, he wished he could believe that Costis might remain oblivious to Kamet's small deception, but that was even more unlikely. Costis was too clever, and his ability to read Kamet's thoughts on his face too well-honed.

So he drank his tea and watched Costis make porridge and did his best to act as though it were any other morning. At least his hands weren't shaking; the tea had accomplished that much.

When Costis had finished eating, he stretched and said, "Could you read me one of my new scrolls now, do you think? Or will you need to translate it first?"

This was an unlooked for reprieve! And yet, after a moment's thought, Kamet realized he was unwilling to take it. He didn't know whether it made him braver or more cowardly that he wanted to see how Costis would react as soon as possible, but he couldn't bear the idea of further uncertainty and delay.

"I should be able to read it straight off. The poetry follows certain patterns, which makes it easier to translate." It was the truth, as far as it went, but it was also true that Kamet had translated several of these stories before.

He made a show of examining each scroll, before selecting the one he'd settled on in his mind earlier that morning. Then he sat in his usual chair, while Costis dragged his own chair away from the hearth to where he could hear better, and he began to read.

At first Costis merely nodded along, smiling and interjecting the occasional aside, until Kamet reached the lines: 

"Immakuk clasped his friend about the waist  
 by the waist and thigh he clasped him  
 clasped Brave Ennikar tightly,  
 thigh to thigh they clasped each other."

Costis leaned forward then to interrupt. "Ennikar and Immakuk, they were lovers?" he asked, an odd note in his voice.

Kamet, cowardly after all, didn't look up from the scroll. "In some of the stories," he said.

"Yet not in any of the stories you've told me before."

Kamet shrugged. His eyes traced over the next few lines--Ennikar bore Immakuk to the ground and they loved each other so hard that the earth shook villages ten miles away--over and over, but he didn't open his mouth to read them.

He didn't open his mouth to apologize, either, though the unspoken words were heavy on his tongue: _I'm sorry I think of you in ways that profane our friendship. I'm sorry I couldn't be grateful for what you've already given me and not wish stupidly for more. I never meant for you to know._

There was a long silence, and then Costis said, in a familiar resigned tone, "The king sent me these scrolls, didn't he?"

"I believe so."

Costis sighed. Kamet closed his eyes. _Now_ his hands were shaking, and he pressed them firmly against the table until they stopped.

"You don't have to read the rest if it makes you uncomfortable," Costis said, awkward yet sincere, and Kamet's eyes flew open. That...didn't sound at all as if Costis were angry with him. It sounded, in fact, as though Costis might actually fear _Kamet's_ anger.

"I don't mind reading the stories if you don't mind hearing them," he said cautiously.

Costis chuckled ruefully. "Ah, well. As far as that goes, the idea of Immakuk and Ennikar being closer than friends...hasn't exactly been far from my mind."

And perhaps Kamet was brave after all, because he heard himself say, "And by 'Immakuk and Ennikar,' do you mean _'Immakuk and Ennikar'_ or--" he gestured between them.

The blush that spread across Costis's face was violent enough for Kamet to see from several feet away. "Both?" Costis said, in a somewhat strangled tone.

Kamet needed suddenly to kiss him, but his knees felt like water. "Come here," he said, and when Costis obeyed--the puzzled expression on his red face swimming into view as he came nearer--Kamet caught him by the hand and tugged downwards.

Costis's knees must have been almost as susceptible as Kamet's, because a moment after his eyes had widened with realization, he dropped to his knees with a thump and reached his free hand to Kamet's cheek. It stroked gently, his thumb a hair's breadth from Kamet's mouth, and Kamet shuddered and leaned closer until they were kissing.

Some time later--after Costis's legs had begun to protest the hard floor and he'd relaxed into a sprawl, pulling Kamet down into his lap--Costis stopped kissing him a moment to ask in a pleasantly hoarse voice, "How detailed exactly are these stories when it comes to Ennikar and Immakuk's relationship?"

Kamet felt his cheeks heat even more than they had while kissing Costis. "Not...very, I suppose," he said. "At least, not the tablets I've read."

"Ah," Costis said. "In that case, we'll just have to make it up together."

He didn't quite look towards their bedrooms, and Kamet was surprised by the strength of his own certainty as he hissed, "Yes," and slid out of Costis's lap and to his feet, reaching a hand down to help a pleasantly dazed Costis up. Then he reconsidered and collected the open scroll from his table, as well. "It's not very detailed, but it is...inspiring," he said in response to Costis's curious look, and was rewarded by Costis smiling at him as brightly as the sun.


End file.
